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Nuisance Bear 

Play trailer 2:08 Poster for Nuisance Bear  Now Playing 1h 30m Documentary Nature Play Trailer Watchlist
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98% Tomatometer 41 Reviews Popcornmeter 0 Ratings
For thousands of years, polar bears have migrated along the shores of Hudson Bay in northern Canada. Today, that ancient rhythm collides with a human world of tourism, surveillance, and control. Nuisance Bear immerses viewers in the experience of a polar bear forced to navigate tourists, wildlife officers, and hunters as climate change delays the freeze and pushes bears closer to human settlements. When a sacred predator is branded a "nuisance," it becomes unclear who truly belongs in this shared landscape. Returning to Churchill, Manitoba--the self-styled "Polar Bear Capital of the World"--filmmakers Gabriela Osio Vanden and Jack Weisman expand their award-winning short into a feature guided by an Inuit narrator whose perspective resists simplification. Shot with striking intimacy and scale, the film observes bears that are constantly monitored, photographed, and redirected. In tracing this uneasy coexistence, Nuisance Bear becomes a meditation on how humans manage, commodify, and redefine wildlife--overturning the conventions of the nature documentary and reframing animals not as spectacle, but as active agents in a rapidly changing world.
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Nuisance Bear 

Critics Reviews

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Robert Abele Los Angeles Times 1 day ago
When Cristóbal Tapia de Veer’s ethereal score is playing, “Nuisance Bear” evokes a sacred domain where the cosmic hymn that’s always undergirded it has begun to lose its melody. Go to Full Review
Peyton Robinson RogerEbert.com 1 day ago
2.5/4
The pacing suffers from indecision and a wandering eye, but the impact of the discussion remains after the film’s end. Go to Full Review
Zachary Barnes Wall Street Journal Mar 17, 2026
The film doubles as a fascinating study of humans’ engagement with their environment, exploring not-always-predictable differences between the approach of the local Inuit population and nonindigenous people with particular ideas about conservation. Go to Full Review
Mark Dujsik Mark Reviews Movies 1 day ago
3/4
The footage here ... tells a pretty clear story. Go to Full Review
Andrew Dignan In Review Online 2 days ago
The film forces the viewer to sit with the question of why we prioritize the lives of animals over people and whether there are unintended consequences of altruism. Go to Full Review
Rich Cline Shadows on the Wall 3 days ago
4/5
This documentary follows a young polar bear through various encounters with humans... Filmmakers Jack Weisman and Gabriela Osio Vanden are actually exploring bigger themes from climate change, to the legacy of colonisation and how culture impacts nature. Go to Full Review
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Nuisance Bear 

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Cast & Crew

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Gabriela Osio Vanden

Director

Jack Weisman

Director

Will N. Miller

Producer

Michael Code

Producer

Teddy Leifer

Producer

Jack Weisman

Producer
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Nuisance Bear 

Nuisance Bear: Trailer 1 Nuisance Bear: Trailer 1 2:08 Now Playing View more videos
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Nuisance Bear 

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Movie Info

Synopsis For thousands of years, polar bears have migrated along the shores of Hudson Bay in northern Canada. Today, that ancient rhythm collides with a human world of tourism, surveillance, and control. Nuisance Bear immerses viewers in the experience of a polar bear forced to navigate tourists, wildlife officers, and hunters as climate change delays the freeze and pushes bears closer to human settlements. When a sacred predator is branded a "nuisance," it becomes unclear who truly belongs in this shared landscape. Returning to Churchill, Manitoba--the self-styled "Polar Bear Capital of the World"--filmmakers Gabriela Osio Vanden and Jack Weisman expand their award-winning short into a feature guided by an Inuit narrator whose perspective resists simplification. Shot with striking intimacy and scale, the film observes bears that are constantly monitored, photographed, and redirected. In tracing this uneasy coexistence, Nuisance Bear becomes a meditation on how humans manage, commodify, and redefine wildlife--overturning the conventions of the nature documentary and reframing animals not as spectacle, but as active agents in a rapidly changing world.
Director
Gabriela Osio Vanden, Jack Weisman
Producer
Will N. Miller, Michael Code, Teddy Leifer, Jack Weisman, Gabriela Osio Vanden
Distributor
MUBI
Production Co
A24
Genre
Documentary, Nature
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
Nov 6, 2026, Limited
Runtime
1h 30m
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